14: Chapter 14 The Storm Is Brewing

Jin Shouyi stepped onto Yunfeng Mountain once again.

This time, his face was as pale as paper, the rolls of fat on his face twitched uncontrollably, and his small, mung bean-sized eyes darted around in terror.

In Jin Shouyi's eyes, behind every swaying clump of weeds, there lurked ancient beasts waiting to devour him, ready to swallow his obese body whole at any moment.

"Damn that charlatan, using me as bait! If I die, I won't let you go even as a ghost!"

Jin Shouyi gritted his teeth, cursing Mr. Lu's ancestors eighteen generations back in his heart, while cold sweat had already soaked through his clothes, trickling down his spine, sticky and cold.

Suddenly, "Caw!" A shrill, piercing bird cry shattered the dead silence, exploding in the treetops.

Already on edge, Jin Shouyi was scared out of his wits, letting out a scream that didn't sound human, as he frantically pulled an ancient coin from his pocket and threw it fiercely toward the sound of the bird.

It was a pointed-tip knife coin from the Pre-Qin period, its entire body gleaming with the cold light of bronze, with a line of complex and obscure ancient inscriptions engraved on its surface, faint streams of light moving within them, exuding an aura of antiquity and mystery.

A bizarre scene occurred.

The ancient coin did not fall into the grass but instead traced a strange arc in mid-air, as if controlled by an invisible hand, returning along its original path and landing steadily in Jin Shouyi's palm.

"Boss Jin, don't be such a coward. Nothing will happen, trust me."

Mr. Lu's voice, steady enough to be unsettling, came through the phone receiver with a hint of faint mockery.

Jin Shouyi gripped the phone, his knuckles turning white from overexertion, on the verge of a breakdown: "Mr. Lu, I've reached the foot of Yunfeng Mountain. I really can't go any further inside."

From the moment he stepped into this forest, a chill of being locked onto by an apex predator had clung to him tightly, like an invisible ice thorn, piercing deep into his bone marrow.

No matter how he searched, he could never find the source of that gaze.

This sense of oppression originating from the depths of his soul was crushing his psychological defenses bit by bit.

If not for the faint, false sense of security provided by the ancient coin with its supernatural abilities in his hand, he would have already fled down the mountain in a panic.

"I told you, don't be afraid. I have already set up a formation here. You just need to carry that ancient coin. Once I detect the movements of that vile beast, I will activate the formation to suppress and kill it from afar."

"The vile beast in Yunfeng Mountain is at best just something that has gained a little intelligence. You, Boss Jin, have seen all sorts of storms in your life; are you still afraid of this?"

Jin Shouyi had already cursed the other party a hundred and eight thousand times in his heart, but he was currently caught in a dilemma.

If he walked into Yunfeng Mountain and cooperated with Mr. Lu to kill that vile beast, his illness could be cured, and he could live out the rest of his life in peace. If he didn't cooperate, he would have to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Compared to a life without sunlight behind high walls, he chose the former.

The mountain path was rugged and overgrown with thorns, and the weeds by the roadside had grown to waist height.

A breeze blew by, and the leaves rustled, but to Jin Shouyi, it sounded like the whispers of countless vengeful spirits, making him feel as though something was watching him from deep within the grass.

Drenched in sweat, Jin Shouyi had reached the mountainside.

"Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu? Have you detected anything?"

"Mr. Lu?"

"Mr. Lu?!"

The only response was a dead silence.

Jin Shouyi raised his phone abruptly, the screen clearly displaying "No Signal"; the call had long since been disconnected.

"Damn it!"

Extreme fear and despair surged into his heart instantly. Jin Shouyi threw away his expensive phone and turned to flee this godforsaken place.

However, the moment he turned around, Jin Shouyi's pupils suddenly constricted, and he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

On the mountain path ahead, a massive shadow slowly emerged, completely blocking his retreat.

It was a giant wolf of impossibly large proportions!

It stood on all fours, its shoulder height reaching nearly three meters, like a small hill. Its fur was hard as steel needles, gleaming with a cold, metallic luster in the dim light.

A pair of wolf eyes flashed with a pale blue, ghostly light, cold and cruel.

What is going on? Wasn't it said that the monster in Yunfeng Mountain was a snake? Why has a wolf appeared?

Jin Shouyi's legs trembled, and cold sweat poured down like rain.

"Damn you, Lu Hong, save me!"

Jin Shouyi roared this out through gritted teeth, his voice filled with despair and anger, as he began to slowly back away.

But suffocatingly, for every step he took back, the giant wolf took a step forward.

Every step was steady and powerful, crunching loudly on the dead branches and fallen leaves.

"Lu Hong, go to hell! I won't let you go even as a ghost!"

Jin Shouyi's pampered, obese body, which normally panted after climbing a few flights of stairs, looked so fragile and pathetic before this ferocious beast.

Fear drained all his strength; his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.

Seeing its prey fall, the Mountain Wolf's eyes flared with malice. With a shift of its body, it lunged several meters instantly, charging forward with a foul wind.

"Ah!"

Jin Shouyi was scared out of his wits and instinctively gripped the ancient coin in his palm, throwing it forward with all his might.

"Whoosh!"

The ancient coin left his hand and instantly turned into a streak of pale gold light, moving too fast for the eye to catch.

The giant wolf, mid-leap, suddenly felt a crisis that made its soul tremble.

It forcibly twisted its body in mid-air, performing an extreme dodge of nearly ninety degrees!

This completely defied the common sense of biomechanics; the huge inertia should have thrown it off, but its ferocious muscles erupted with astonishing power at that moment, forcibly shedding its momentum.

"Rip!"

The golden light grazed the giant wolf's fur, and a few strands of hair, hard as steel needles, drifted down, the cut ends smooth as mirrors.

Although the Mountain Wolf had dodged the fatal blow, it lost its balance and fell heavily to the ground.

However, the crisis was not over.

The pale golden radiance circled in the air and actually grew in size against the wind!

The ancient coin, originally only the size of a finger, transformed in the blink of an eye into a golden giant blade as thick as an adult's arm. The ancient inscriptions on its surface seemed to come alive, releasing a blinding light and, with the power to sever everything, launched a second round of slaughter!

The golden giant blade slashed fiercely onto its front leg, and blood splattered!

No blood flowed from the wound; instead, it showed a charred black color, as if the very vitality in its flesh had been burned away by this ancient power.

A sharp pain struck, and the giant wolf crashed to the ground, unable to stand again.

The golden giant blade circled in the air, locking onto its killing intent, ready to deliver the final blow to this spirit beast and completely sever its head!

Just at this critical moment, "Boom!"

An aura as vast as an abyss and terrifying to the extreme swept out from the depths of Yunfeng Mountain, instantly shrouding the entire forest.

The sky changed color, and the winds and clouds rolled backward!

That aura was too vast, too terrifying, as if an ancient beast that had slept for eons had suddenly awakened, opening its cold eyes to overlook all living beings.